Five Nights at Freddy's 2: Free Roam
by Freelancer Josiah
Summary: There's a brand new Freddy Fazbear's opened up in the wake of the failed lawsuit against Fazbear Entertainment, and Alex Redding decides to look into the new location to make sure that the mistakes of the past aren't repeated in the present. After all, with a brand new cast and no doors, what could go wrong? Part of the Alex Redding universe.
1. Chapter 1

Hey, folks! It's been a great vacation for me, and a much needed one, but break's over and it's time to get back to work. Alex and the crew have got a new set of problems on their hands, and this time it's not going to be quite as easy as Alex thinks... After all, even though he's had time to prepare, the 'new and improved' models have a few nasty tricks up their sleeves...

In all seriousness, sorry it's taken so long to get this out. Between holidays, getting ready for another class semester, and far more Elite: Dangerous than should be healthy, I haven't been writing much lately. Time for me to get back to it.

Which brings me to my next note! Because Scott Cawthon LOVES making a writer's life difficult by announcing new games so quickly, we're gonna be hitting this full throttle. Expect updates to primarily focus on this story, with Into the Rift's rewrite taking a back seat until it's done. Also! Depending on how busy/tired I am on an average week, there may be more than one update per week... No promises, though!

Now, let's get the show on the road!

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><p>It had been roughly two months since the new Freddy Fazbear's pizza had opened up, and I was keeping a close eye on the goings-on in that restaurant. After all, considering what I'd dealt with in both Golden Mile and Fazbear Entertainment, I didn't trust that company any further than I could throw Foxy – who, as I was studying the latest newspaper, was leaning against me and watching idly. In the living room, Bonnie and Freddy were introducing themselves to the Johnny-5 movies, which (ironically) were turning out to be a hit for them. I'd asked Chica to whip up a pizza, and she was busying herself within the kitchen, which gave me plenty of time to review the paper. Foxy stopped me as I was glancing through, pointing out an image.<p>

I looked it over: "HELP WANTED! Vintage Pizzeria given new life! Come be a part of the new Freddy Fazbear's Pizza!" Right below it was the phone number for Fazbear's. I smirked up at Foxy, tilting my head. "What could go wrong, right?" She chuckled, before shrugging a bit as well, her eyepatch flicking up briefly. "Don't look at me, Alex. For all we know it could be for repair worker or pizza cook. But I know what you're thinking…" I nodded, clipping out the ad and putting it in the rather sizable folder I had been assembling regarding the 'new and improved' Fazbear's Pizza. Taking a moment, I opened it up and began shuffling through the files.

Sure enough, as I lined up the ads there was a clear trend by date; they were all spaced around a week apart, at most. Some were within the same two or three days, while others made it through the entire workweek and overtime. I looked over at Foxy again, who shrugged. She'd been skeptical of my reasons for keeping tabs, and I understood why; after the Drone Incident and the Golden Mile bust, you'd think they would have learned how to maintain the robots in a way that made them not intent on murder. Still, I wasn't about to trust Fazbear Entertainment… And, as I pulled out a few more papers, I now had a much more valid reason. Because even though I hadn't heard anything back from my friend Adams about missing persons reports being filed by the company, people had begun to express curiosity when their roommates and friends didn't come home.

As I looked over the stack of papers before me, I remembered that wasn't always the case. Some of them made it out, their experiences hidden behind miles of non-disclosure agreements. Thankfully, a bit of clever social engineering – and occasionally a few drinks – managed to get the bulk of them to share their experiences… At least in part. They talked about 'strange noises' from the basement, as well as 'odd behavior' from the animatronics. The official line the company made when I asked the new owner was something about their 'night mode' not being configured properly, which caused the behaviors, and said they'd 'found a solution'. Roughly a week later, I got a letter in the mail announcing that I had a restraining order against me, compliments Fazbear Entertainment. That's what tripped the alarm bells in my head, which is why I now had a file built up against them… But I had no proof. Yet.

When I'd explained my plan to Freddy and the crew, the bear had all but organized a mutiny to keep me away; apparently they were just as concerned, if not more so. And it made sense, considering that they were my roommates for the forseeable future and the world didn't even know of their existence. The only people who knew were my old ex-SWAT buddy Adams, ex-security guard Mike Schmidt, and former owner Fredrick Faz… And Richard Matthews, who'd disappeared shortly after the animatronics and I had put some fear into hin and made him quickly buzz off of trying to 'recover the missing robotics'. We'd had a bit of a chuckle after that, and I'd treated Faz and Mike to a few drinks for their help. But that was a few months ago, and now Mike was working at some security consulting firm while Faz enjoyed his retirement.

I'd explained my plan again a bit later; quite simply, I needed to find out firsthand what was going on in there, and to do that I needed to get into the night guard job. They weren't exactly thrilled at the idea of me putting my life on the line. After all; if I was wrong then I'd probably get in a massive amount of legal trouble for breaking a restraining order. If I was right – and I sincerely believed I was – then I would be in mortal peril for a full week… But then I explained a bit better. After dealing with both the Fazbear band and Golden Mile's defense robots, I'd learned a few tricks about how to deal with an animatronic; for example, if you clip the power supply with any kind of firepower from 9mm up, it would jostle it loose and shut the robot down. Hit it with a rifle round or a shotgun shell and the power supply would be toast.

After explaining this, and showing off a few devices I'd come up with specifically for dealing with angry animatronics, Freddy finally relented and said he'd help out provided I made sure I had concrete evidence that something wasn't quite right before I went in. With all of this lined up, I nodded. "Hey, Freddy? Mind sticking your nose in for a sec?" A few moments later, the leader of the Fazbear band stepped into the Kitchen, his signature top hat slightly crooked on his head. I couldn't help but chuckle; it was pretty clear that he and Bonnie had been snuggling on the couch more than watching the movie. Any other time, I would've relished giving them both some well-deserved teasing, but now was serious.

"Alex? How can I help?" He spoke, before looking down at the papers and files I had scattered across the table. As he glanced through them, his eyebrows rose and eyes widened more and more, before shaking his head at me. I just grinned. "You know, I sincerely hoped that this would have turned out to be a dud, and you were just being overly paranoid… But sadly, it appears I'm wrong. There is something suspicious going on at the new restaurant…" I looked over at him, tilting my head as if waiting for him to say something. It took a bit of grumbling, but he finally relented, reaching out and extending a paw for a shake. I took it gladly, with a nod. "Fine, Alex. You can go look into the new place with our blessing. Just… Don't take any risks, okay? You're important to all of us…" He gave Foxy a look, before smirking at me. "Some more than others." I blushed, squirming a bit. He just grinned, before giving me a more serious look. "Just remember. The only reason I'm trusting you to go in without us is because you said you'd signal us if anything went wrong. And I know you've got the setup for getting in touch."

I nodded again, smiling as Chica finally came out with a freshly-made pizza. She looked over to Freddy and I, before nodding and taking a seat. We'd all come to this conclusion a while ago, so we knew what this meant. I had a lot of work to do in order to get ready for this, and I wanted to get things going before the weekend so I could start on Monday ready to get going on this new investigation… But first, there was always time for Chica's pizza.

Around an hour later, I donned my 'disguise': a blond wig to hide my black hair, a quick shave, a pair of contact lenses to change my green eyes to a blue color, and a heavy coat to hide my basic features. As far as I could tell, this would do just fine. Wouldn't fool any animatronics, but a human eye wouldn't be able to pick up on the subtle differences. I looked over the next step of my preparations; within this coat I had concealed a .44 magnum and several reloads, a smoke grenade, and two new inventions I'd made just for dealing with rampaging robots; a pair of electrified collapsible batons. The old batons had been too heavily abused from my battles with the old band, so I'd picked these out and set to modifying them. Two buttons on the handles controlled them; one would deliver enough of a jolt to send the animatronics offline temporarily, and the other would fry their circuits out. Sadly I only had enough charge per battery for one deep-fry. I held onto a few spares, but it wasn't exactly a fast process to change them. Finally, I'd even come up with a new identity to use, one that was based off of one of my old SWAT team. I sighed as I remembered him, and the incident that had killed him… Before shaking my head. I've got more important things to worry about right now.

With a nod, I finished packing my gear and climbed into the truck. The last thing I'd created was a small cylinder with a red button on the top; this was my panic button. If things went downhill quickly, I was to hit it and wait for the band to get to my location to help me out – an invention Freddy insisted on after I was trapped in Golden Mile's warehouse with thirty rampaging robots. With a nod to the band, I headed for the new pizzeria. On my way, I thought over what I'd been able to cobble together… Apparently there were now six animatronics in action; the original band, and two more that I'd never managed to get much information on. All I knew was that one inspired untold rage, and the other absolute terror. Add to that the missing robots that I still had yet to locate, and the situation was rather dangerous to say the least. I didn't think that Fazbear Entertainment would have stolen them back, but considering that their absence had made the court case fall through… I shrugged. Not enough information to go on. Time to focus on the here and now… And the here and now was that I was just pulling into the parking lot of the new restaurant. I climbed out, entering the new location and looking around.

I had to admit, the place had come along nicely; several party rooms, a prize corner, a game room, and even an area for the kids… Although I paused as I saw the small area. In it was what looked like a cross between an animatronic and a car accident… And this gave me my first impression of what the new robots were like. Instead of faux-fur and padding, they were made from plastic and paint. And, judging by the white plastic and pink lipstick… Much more 'kid-friendly'. I sighed, before heading to the show stage area… Where I got my second big surprise. The band looked absolutely night and day; they were all a similar plastic-like material, and had a new 'kid-friendly' design. Bonnie had the most glaring difference, now a powder blue and white color scheme with wider, more 'expressive' eyes. Personally, I thought the new look was absolutely creepy. Freddy had suffered the least amount of change, but his new look still had this… Strangely off look to it. Chica… I had no words. Somehow, they decided the best way to make her 'kid-friendly' was… To put it delicately, to make her gender much more clear. I sighed; the gang was not going to be too thrilled at this new look… With a shrug, I looked around to one of the staff. The pizzeria was moderately busy, and the band was on stage performing. I turned away, and caught the eye of the staff member. As I did so… I could almost swear I saw one of those robots looking right at me. I looked back, and all was normal again… The employee distracted my thoughts at this point.

"Good afternoon, sir! Welcome to the new and improved Freddy Fazbear's pizzeria! How can I help you?" I chuckled; it was obvious that he was putting this face on. As he started going on about 'fantasy and fun coming to life', I stopped him.

"Relax, kid. I'm here to ask about the job in the papers. Still hiring for it?" He nodded, looking a bit nervous at that…

"Th-the night guard position? Y-yeah, it's open. U-um… Y-you sure you want it?" This was odd… I nodded, causing him to squirm a bit. "O-Okay, if you insist…" He flagged down another guy; a big guy, in fact. Tough, muscular, looks like the kind of guy who'd turn your arm into a pretzel just for looking at him funny. I looked him over, standing my ground as the kid explained to him. He nodded, looking me over, before approaching.

"So you're the new prospective night owl, huh? Well, this should be a pretty simple job. Don't need references or anything, this is pretty straightforward entry level stuff. Lemme give you the grand tour." He sounded gruff, businesslike. And yet somehow… Off. I couldn't place my finger on why before he was talking again. "Up there are the main attraction; Freddy Fazbear and the Toy Band. Bonnie on guitar, rocking out as usual, and Chica's on backup vocal. They're the livelihood of the place, and your number one priority." He led me along, and I couldn't help but glance at a door that read 'Parts and Service'. Oddly, it seemed to be cracked open… Before closing once more. Shrugging, I followed the guy along for the tour as we entered the Kid's Cove. "Here we have Toy Foxy." He pointed out the mass of spare parts. "Sadly, she ain't in the best condition; the kids seem rather insistent on tugging her apart and using her as their own little playset. We've fixed her every night, and she's always a mass of machinery by the end of the day… Lousy kids." He grumbled a bit, before leading back to the Game Room. In the corner stood an animatronic that I certainly wasn't familiar with.

It was small, around child-sized, and had a bundle of balloons in his hand. Wearing a propeller beanie, and holding a sign that said 'Balloons!' with a small slot at his chest for inserting tokens. "This is the Balloon Boy. He's one of the few non-performing animatronics we have; his job is basically to get balloons for the kids. A token gets them a helium balloon all their own." I nod… Something about that kid just inherently filled me with irritation. I shrugged it off and followed along once more, this time into the Prize Corner.

Immediately as I set fut in Prize Corner, I felt surprisingly uneasy. It was almost… Almost the same feeling I got when I entered Golden Freddy's 'reprocessing' area back at the Incident. It just felt… Dark. Almost evil. And right at the epicenter was this lanky, black-suited thing with a mask that looked like it was a rejected concept for Jigsaw's puppet in the Saw movies. I shuddered slightly before the guy spoke again. "And this is the last one. He's the Marionette; his job is basically to cover the prize counter and make sure the tickets that kids get are traded for prizes. He also tends to entertain a bit." I nodded, still shuddering. The marionette, as it was called, reached over with one of its all-too-thin arms and wound up this odd music box, sending a tinkling tune through the room. I turned my attention back to the boss. "Well, other than that the layout of the place is on your cameras. Your job is pretty simple; keep an eye on the place from midnight to 6 AM, and make sure nobody screws with the robots." I nodded, following him around to the office, where he tugged out a standard-looking contract. My eyes glanced over… And I picked up on the same '90 Days before Filing Missing Persons' article from the old restaurant. I noted it away for later, and he looked at me again. "Contract says you agree to work at least five nights here before quitting; we've had trouble holding on to guards. Apparently they get a bit creeped out by the night movement from the robots." I shrugged, before signing the name I took on for this. He smiled, taking the contract and looking it over. "Hmm… Looks good! Alright. You start on Monday night, so be here at 11:45 at the latest."

I nodded, standing and turning to leave. This place still gave me a bad feeling… He called me back, waving for a moment. "Hey, can't quite make sense of your name, sadly... So for the record, what's your name?"

I smiled, looking at him. "Name? Oh, sorry." I cleared my throat.

"The name's Jeremy Fitzgerald."

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><p>I told you guys that Jeremy would be in this... Just in a different way! :P<p>

Yes, this starts off a bit slow. But I'm trying to establish the new characters and get things set up. Don't worry, though; Night 1 is coming, and that's when the real fun starts...

Am I the only one surprised that there's no Payday crossover with FNaF?

Read and review!


	2. Chapter 2: New Bots on the Block

Hey, guys. Sorry it took me so long to get this out; class started this week, so in addition to getting used to that again... I also managed to catch a bug, so yesterday was spent either asleep or on Netflix trying to ignore whatever I caught.

Feeling better now, but I'm still a bit hazy in the brain so I apologize if this chapter doesn't live up to expectations. It's kinda hard to do high octane when you're doped up on sinus medication ^^'

Anyway, chapter is out and the plot begins to get rather... Interesting. On with the show!

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><p>I finally entered the pizzeria once more. It was 11:45 at night, and shift started soon; the boss had told me to go ahead and come in early, so I could 'get settled'. Obviously he was being a bit cagey about what I was expected to do… But I wasn't really surprised. I had my suspicions as to what happened around here, and if I was right he didn't exactly want to talk about it in front of everyone… I shrugged, my coat swaying slightly as I headed for the Security room. I'd packed fairly light for tonight; after all, best case scenario is that these robots were harmless and I wouldn't need anything, so all I had on me were my twin stunner batons and a taser. If I needed more, I'd be able to bring it over the next few nights.<p>

I entered the security office… And froze. Instead of the typical doors and lights that I expected, there were two open vents, one long hallway entrance that I'd just come through… And a Freddy mask sitting next to the tablet. No doors… That was less than good. I shook my head, sitting down on the chair. There was a note on the tablet, and I tilted my head as I peeled it off the screen. It looked like it was the boss's handwriting, so I gave it a glance over. 'Jeremy, there are still a few bugs and kinks in the security systems here, so don't worry too much about it. You might see a few random video files playing, or some odd programs running… Ignore them; they're carryovers from the systems at the old restaurant, and the files are so heavily corrupted they have a habit of turning on automatically; especially right before your shift starts and right after it finishes. Also, the phone has a few ancient recordings on it, and it tends to play by itself. It's the phone from the last restaurant, so these recordings are basically irrelevant. Go ahead and mute the calls when they start. Your shift should be pretty quiet.' I tilted my head. Old calls? Video files? Sure enough, one of the screens on the desk flickered to life, and I looked over to it. My eyes widened as I saw what it displayed…

It was the old pizzeria, but… Different. From a different perspective… I froze. These were video files from Freddy's viewpoint on the old Show Stage. His gaze panned across, seeing Bonnie also staring straight ahead, then back over to Chica on the other side… before staring straight ahead once more. There was a moment of static, and the video feed cut. I leaned back in my chair, stroking my chin for a long moment… That was… Odd. I'd have to ask Freddy if he knew anything about recordings from his point of view… But first things first, the clock ticked over to midnight and the tablet clicked on. I opened a drawer in the desk, fishing out an old flashlight. It still worked, and the battery was fully charged, so I set it on the desk… Just in case. A moment later, the phone rang… And then with a click, a voice I never thought I'd hear again began to speak.

"_Uh, hello? Hello, hello? Uh, hello and welcome to your new summer job at the new and improved Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Uh, I'm here to talk you through some of the things you can expect to see during your first week here and to help you get started down this new and exciting career path." _I froze. That was the phone guy from the old place! How old were these recordings? And how did he manage to record them for here? The voice continued.

"_Uh, now, I want you to forget anything you may have heard about the old location, you know. Uh, some people still have a somewhat negative impression of the company. Uh... that old restaurant was kind of left to rot for quite a while, but I want to reassure you, Fazbear Entertainment is committed to family fun and above all, safety." _I snorted; sure they were, buddy… That's why they need a night guard._ "They've spent a small fortune on these new animatronics, uh, facial recognition, advanced mobility, they even let them walk around during the day. Isn't that neat?" _I'd heard about the free roaming mode… But they had advanced mobility and facial recognition? Maybe they'd be safe…_ "But most importantly, they're all tied into some kind of criminal database, so they can detect a predator a mile away. Heck, we should be paying them to guard you." _And maybe not. Detecting a predator? That certainly sounded like an easy system to exploit.

"_Uh, now that being said, no new system's without its... kinks." _I sighed. Here we go…_ "Uh... you're only the second guard to work at that location. Uh, the first guy finished his week, but complained about... conditions. Uh, we switched him over to the day shift, so hey, lucky you, right? Uh mainly he expressed concern that certain characters seemed to move around at night, and even attempted to get into his office. Now, from what we know, that should be impossible. Uh, that restaurant should be the safest place on earth." _Sure it was, buddy. Only the second night guard, though… Either this recording really was old, or something was fishy around here.

"_So while our engineers don't really have an explanation for this, the working theory is that... the robots were never given a proper "night mode". So when it gets quiet, they think they're in the wrong room, so then they go try to find where the people are, and in this case, that's your office. So our temporary solution is this: there's a music box over by the Prize Counter, and it's rigged to be wound up remotely. So just, every once in a while, switch over to the Prize Counter video feed and wind it up for a few seconds. It doesn't seem to affect all of the animatronics, but it does affect... one of them."_ Joy. So they may be out and about tonight, and only one would be distracted by this music box thing…_ "Uh, and as for the rest of them, we have an even easier solution. You see, there may be a minor glitch in the system, something about robots seeing you as an endoskeleton without his costume on, and wanting to stuff you in a suit, so hey, we've given you an empty Freddy Fazbear head, problem solved! You can put it on anytime, and leave it on for as long as you want. Eventually anything that wandered in, will wander back out." _I sighed, shaking my head. Why did I not think of that when I was working at the old location?!

"_Uh, something else worth mentioning is kind of the modern design of the building. You may have noticed there are no doors for you to close, heh. But hey, you have a light! And even though your flashlight can run out of power, the building cannot. So, don't worry about the place going dark. Well, I think that's it. Uh, you should be golden. Uh, check the lights, put on the Freddy head if you need to, uh, keep the music box wound up, piece of cake. Have a good night, and I'll talk to you tomorrow." _I sighed. Great, just super. So the robots are still murderous, and instead of highly durable blast doors to lock down, taking advantage of the ample power supply… I have a flashlight, a tablet, and an old animatronic head. There was a music box I need to wind, and there were probably going to be robots walking around. Robots that were much more durable than I remembered. I shrugged my coat off, primed my batons, and checked the cameras. The prize room… Where that marionette thing had been. I got a shudder just looking at it. Without another word, I tapped the 'wind' button and got it wound to full, before glancing over the cameras once more… And nearly dropping my tablet.

The robots were out. And they were on their way. I scanned through the cameras, using a small 'flash' button in the corner to give each room a good look over… And spotted both the new Chica and new Bonnie; the former was down the main hall, and the latter was in one of the party rooms near my office. Now slightly nervous, I lowered the tablet and flashed the light down the corridor. Sure enough, there stood the chick robot… Except she seemed to be missing her bill, and her eyes… They were that same black with white pinpricks that I'd seen from the others when they were in 'attack mode'. Were these robots being controlled as well?

I didn't have time to ponder that as I heard a thumping from the right vent. Somewhat timidly, I flicked the light on… And was met with a smiling visage of Bonnie, staring at me. We made eye contact, and then her eyes flicked to black and she charged out of that vent at me. No time to grab the Freddy mask now… She screeched at me, and I responded by tugging a baton out quickly and nailing her right across the middle. She doubled over, before glaring up at me. I heard a thumping from the other vent… Time to go. I jumped the desk just as Chica scrambled out of the vent and started tearing down the hall.

This… Was not good. I'd fought them off one at a time before, but it appeared that now these models were capable of working together and coordinating their movements; there was no way Chica could've known to rush that vent otherwise. As if to prove my point, Freddy came around the corner just as I was hustling for the Games Room, figuring I could grab some breathing room to fight in there. He grabbed me by the arm, screeching at me. Oh, this would not do at all! I came down hard on his elbow joint, hearing the servos grinding angrily as he screeched again and released me, letting me duck into the room.

A moment later, both Chica and Bonnie came in and rushed me. I lowered my shoulder and charged at Bonnie, sending her flying into the carousel, which activated spontaneously and began dragging her along for a 'ride ' as it spun. Turning, I came in with a double baton smash to Chica's side, sending her collapsing onto that Balloon Boy, who turned his expression to me. I saw the tips of my batons sparking, flashing, and then completely dying out; apparently this lousy little bugger could fry my electronics. I tried the flashlight – same result.

I swore, before landing a solid kick to his grinning face, causing him to go reeling back and allowing my electronics to power up again. Just in time, too; Freddy grabbed me in a nasty grapple and started dragging me off, so I tapped the low-power button and came down hard on one of his joints. The electrical current sparked through his endoskeleton briefly, and he released me and collapsed, stunned for the moment. I took that as my chance to run, seeing as how the carousel was now disabled again. I jumped over Bonnie as she grabbed for me, roundhouse-kicking her in the back of the head and sending her collapsing forward once more before taking off again. The robots were climbing back to their feet, and I started thinking quickly to myself. I could still hear that music box playing in the background, and I had four of the others known… I froze. Where was the Mangle?

I got my answer as that… THING dove at me, jaws spread wide and showing off some nastily sharpened teeth. I barely managed to duck, but a bit of blood was drawn as one of those teeth dragged along my scalp. I swore, putting my hand up and feeling the blood starting to drip down my hair. With another loud curse, I overcharged my baton and smacked the infernal thing square in the middle. It screamed out, twitching and writhing as the electrical charged leaped through it, before collapsing in a heap of metal on the ground. I smirked; that one was taken care of, at least… Freddy and the new bots paused, staring at the Mangle's collapsed frame, before he nodded to the Balloon Boy. The lousy kid grabbed Mangle's 'arm' and started dragging it off… And I took that as my chance. I came in, hitting both Chica and Freddy in the midriff with two quick strikes, coming down on the back of Chica's neck… It was a desperate gambit, and sadly it didn't pay off as the blow landed, and all that happened was Chica fell to the ground. No sudden change, no nothing. So either the control systems were much more well enforced… Or I was right, and they weren't being controlled.

My musings couldn't have come at a worse time; Freddy came in and nailed me with a kidney punch, sending me reeling back against one of the arcade machines. He screamed at me, aiming a swipe for my midsection… My eyes widened; he had claws?! I barely had time to figure this out before diving to the ground as he left a set of gashes in the side of the machine. I climbed to my feet and froze as I heard that music box starting to die out. I swore and bolted for the security room; I was having a hard enough time against these bots as it was, I didn't want more to deal with – especially not that lousy marionette! I swore again as Bonnie blocked the main hall, turning to face me. I crouched into a defensive stance, and waited for her to charge.

She didn't take the bait, approaching me quickly before sliding for my legs! Apparently these new models were more agile… I found myself on my back, before rolling quickly off to the side as she pounded her fist into the tile, cracking a bit of it. I scrambled to my feet, tagging her in the 'chin' with twin rising strikes, sending her reeling back and dislodging her jaw. She screeched, the servos grinding audibly as she attempted to fix the damage. I didn't give her the chance, coming in with two more blows to her shoulder joints, causing her arms to go limp. Her voice box screeched again, and I nailed her right in the throat. The screech became distorted, like radio static, before finally going offline. With that, I delivered two final blows to her knees, and she collapsed with the glow in her eyes fading to dim.

I didn't stick around to see if the job was done; the music box had just finished playing, and I slid under the desk and grabbed the tablet, flipping over to the Party Room and immediately hitting the button to wind it back up. On a whim, I hit the light… And froze in place. That Marionette's head was sticking out of the box in the background. So that's the one the music box works on… I suddenly had a very good reason to keep the thing wound constantly. I wound it back up, setting the tablet down just as I heard movement heading for the security room. At this point I probably wouldn't be able to take down all three bots at once, so I quickly tossed the mask on my head.

Sure enough, both Chica and Freddy entered the room, staring at me. I breathed heavily in the mask; it was stuffy in the thing, but it just may save my life… After another long moment, Chica wandered back off down the hall. Freddy stared at me for a bit longer, tilting his head before also leaving the room. Apparently, they'd had enough of a beating for this first night… As did I. I tugged the mask off, swearing as the bleeding from my head finally managed to cease. I smiled triumphantly as I checked the clock; sure enough, it was just now turning… And with a ring of the clock, it was 6 AM once more. I'd survived my first night here at the new pizzeria.

I remembered the boss mentioning that the Day Shift wouldn't be in until roughly 6:15, but the bots night protocol shut down at 6 and they went back to day mode. I nodded, getting ready to relax for a moment… Before my eyes widened as a monitor flickered to life. It was… Odd, an old program. Seemed to be something from the Atari era of games… With a shrug, I looked it over; simple controls, just use the arrow keys… To move a hatless, tie-less Freddy around a room. I stared as another image, that of the Marionette, drifted out of the 'room' on screen. With nothing else to do, I started pushing keys to have 'Freddy' chase it down. In the background, highly distorted, I could hear a voice speaking… But I couldn't make out what it was saying.

With a shrug, I controlled the 'Freddy' avatar and chased down this marionette, wondering what was going on in this game… Before my eyes widened as I finally was able to make out what the voice was saying. S…. A…. V… E… T… H… E… M. Save them. What was going on here?! I kept up with this marionette for a while, before the screen cut to static and powered off. With a sigh, I pulled up the tablet and flicked through the cameras briefly. My head tilted slightly as I noticed the animatronics were slowly retaking their positions… But apparently, they'd cleaned up the mess from the fight we'd had. With a shrug, I flicked to the last camera, in the Parts and Service room… And froze once more.

There were four familiar sights in that room. Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy… All the classic models. For a moment, I thought someone had caught my friends… But then I realized how beat down they were looking; Bonnie was missing her face and left arm, Chica's hands were missing and her jaw had been broken, Freddy looked absolutely mangled, and Foxy more so. I thought for a moment, before my eyes widened once more, and I made sure to take a picture of what the camera showed. I couldn't prove it, but I knew. There was a mark straight through Foxy's body… A mark that I'd known quite well. I'd seen where it happened, at the final battle with Golden Freddy.

These were the missing robots. They had to be. All four of them were there… Except for some odd reason, Freddy was in a normal outfit instead of the Golden outfit… Odd. I shrugged; at least I'd found the old robots… I set the tablet down, and let out a big sigh of relief. I couldn't believe it; the robots were hostile, and they also had the old models… Thankfully, it seemed like they were powered down; they hadn't given me any trouble, at least… With a sigh, I looked up as the day shift walked in. We didn't talk, and I just nodded at him before heading out to my truck and climbing in.

It was then that I realized that I was still sweating, and even shivering a bit. This… Was more than I bargained for. The old bots were found, and judging by both the call and video feed, there was much more going on here than I thought. I'd have to give this place a closer look… But for now, I slowly drove home. I needed sleep, and time to think.

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><p>Oh dear. There's definitely something odd going down at the new and improved Freddy's, and with a brand new cast of rampaging robots how will Alex handle it?<p>

Read and review! Now if you'll excuse me, I need more sinus medication...

1/26/2014: Broke up some of the longer paragraphs to make it more readable.


	3. Chapter 3: A Minor Bit of Backup

And so Night 2 begins. This fight scene I feel was a bit better than the last; I'm trying to get a feel for the kind of multi-robot combat that I feel makes this particular story - and game - much more interesting and tense. Let me know how I did with it and any suggestions you might have!

On with the show!

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><p>I woke up late that afternoon and let out a soft yawn, stretching out… Only to feel something soft pressed against me. My eyes slowly opened, and I looked down, grinning as I saw Foxy snuggled up close to my side. Apparently she'd kept her battery charged for this; I smiled, gently stroking her ear as she began waking up. "Mmmh… A-Alex?" I smiled down at her, kissing her nose quickly.<p>

"Hey, hun. Listen, I've got a couple things to tell you and the others…" She nodded, looking at me with a slightly grim expression. I'd explained a few things to them before I'd crashed in bed, but it was time to give them the full picture of what had happened, and what little I knew about the new place.

About a half hour and some pizza later, I was just finishing telling the others about my experiences there. As I finished my story, Freddy shook his head and adjusted his top hat. "I don't like it, Alex. There's too many factors to consider, and since you found the old bots there as well… There's too much that can go wrong. I don't want you going back; bring it to the police and let them handle it."

I shook my head. "Freddy, I can't. If I bring this to the cops, they won't be able to do anything with it because I got the information under a false name. Their hands will be tied. Besides, I don't quite think they'll be willing to look into this place… There's too many positives to 'burying bad memories' as the press puts it." I muttered slightly, taking another drink of my soda.

Freddy sighed, adjusting how he sat in his chair. "…Good point… But I don't want you going alone. We're going with you tonight." I shook my head again.

"Too risky. No idea how these bots will react to seeing the four of you, and if you get found on camera or by the day shift, the whole thing's gonna come down on top of us." Freddy frowned even more at this, but reluctantly nodded. With a sigh, I looked up at him. "Look, I don't like this any more than you do. This place is even more dangerous than before with new bots, and my batons don't seem to do enough damage. Plus, it looks like they repair themselves in between skirmishes, which means I can't really take them permanently offline… But that doesn't mean I'm going in unarmed."

The others tilted their heads as I got to my feet, heading for the workshop. They followed me in and I pulled out a set of familiar hard cases, opening them and revealing my combat gear. The same gear I'd used during the Drone Incident. "I figure this is as good a time as any to roll out the heavy equipment. After all, the nights are only going to get more hectic, so I might as well make sure I can fight. Plus, if I can beat them all down and force them in for repairs, I may be able to look around and find some intel…"

The others looked a bit more at ease now, but Foxy was still unsure. "Alex… It's dangerous out there. Please, be careful. Okay?" I nodded, kissing her quickly before packing away my gear; twin combat machetes, safely stored into the thigh holsters right below my dual revolvers along with a set of reloads for them. I looked over the armor, nodding; it had been repaired quite nicely after the Incident, and I'd even added a slot on the back for the lever-action shotgun that I'd recently picked up. I checked it over, and made sure I had plenty of ammunition for that as well. Finally, my helmet; I gave it a good once-over, making sure the face shield was also properly attached.

With a nod at my gear's quality, I packed it back up and set the cases besides the front door, before heading over to the phone and reaching for it… Before stopping and shaking my head. I wasn't going to bother Faz or Mike with this one; it was my fight, and my problem. I turned around and headed to the door, checking the time. It was about time for me to get going if I wanted to arrive early enough to poke around a little bit. I tossed the cases in the truck and climbed in, firing it up and getting ready to go.

One thing I didn't notice was a faint thunking sound from the back of the truck right as I started it up, driving out and heading for work. It was a fairly brief drive, and by the time I got there the regular guard had already left. Good, that meant I could get my stuff in without a problem. I grabbed the cases and started heading in… Before hearing a thunking sound on the ground behind me. Quickly, I whirled around and threw a punch – only barely able to stop it as I saw that it was Foxy. I stared for a long moment, jaw wide. "Fox'! What the heck are you doing here?"

She looked a bit shy, before speaking up. "Alex… I can't let you go there and face six robots, plus anything that the old models may throw at you, by yourself. If something happens to you… I'd never be able to forgive myself." She looked down, a frown on her face. "I'm… Sorry."

I sighed, before giving her a hug. "It's okay, Foxy. I understand… " With a gentle bit of stroking, I finally shrugged. All four of the band was one thing, but just taking care of one was another. "I guess you can stick around and help me out. No sense in driving you back home already."

She brightened at this, hugging against me once more before I nodded, bringing her into the restaurant and settling into the security office. I told her to keep an eye on the monitors just in case another video played, while I donned my armor and weapons. Sure enough, a moment later one of the monitors flickered to life and she waved me over, her eyes widening as it did so.

The screen flickered to life, and it was much the same; a view of the old location from Freddy's eyes at the show stage. Except this time, the visions of Bonnie and Chica were… Different. Both animatronics were looking directly at Freddy, with their expressions seeming… Oddly confused? Worried? Intimidated? I wasn't sure of the words to use. A moment later, it cut to static and blackness… But with a difference. For a brief second, in the upper left corner, there were two words written. Two words that made a chill run down my spine.

It's Me.

A moment later, the phone rang and I immediately turned towards it as it clicked, and that voice began to speak. Foxy's eyes widened as she recognized it as well, leaning on the desk slightly.

"_Ah...hello, hello! Uh, see, I told you your first night wouldn't be a problem. You're a natural!" _I scoffed. Yeah, I was a natural. I fought animatronics three times now…

"_Uh, by now I'm sure you've noticed the older models sitting in the back room. Uh, those are from the previous location. We just use them for parts now. The idea at first was to repair them...uh, they even started retrofitting them with some of the newer technology, but they were just so ugly, you know? The smell...uh, so the company decided to go in a whole new direction and make them super kid-friendly. Uh, those older ones shouldn't be able to walk around, but if they do, the whole Freddy head trick shoud work on them too, so, whatever." _So the old bots should be offline… Of course, that's taking into consideration this information should still be valid. Then again, these old phone calls were from before the last restaurant… Something wasn't adding up.

"_Uh...heh...I love those old characters. Did you ever see Foxy the pirate?" _I smiled and squeezed her paw, and she squeezed back. _"Oh wait, hold on...oh yeah, Foxy. Uh, hey listen, that one was always a bit twitchy, uh...I'm not sure the Freddy head trick will work on Foxy, uh. If for some reason he activates during the night and you see him standing at the far end of the hall, just flash your light at him from time to time. Those older models would always get disoriented with bright lights. It would cause a system restart, or something."_ I gave her a cheeky grin and hefted my flashlight. A glare from her made me put it down, but the grin remained.

"_Uh, come to think of it, you might want to try that on any room where something undesirable might be. It might hold them in place for a few seconds. That glitch might be in some of the newer models too."_ That sounded familiar. So the light had some uses.

"_One more thing - don't forget the music box. I'll be honest, I never liked that puppet thing. It was always...thinking, and it can go anywhere...I don't think a Freddy mask will fool it, so just don't forget the music box."_ Well, at least we had one more thing in common – a distrust of that lousy Marionette. But the fact that it could go anywhere, and the mask wouldn't fool it… That worried me. Majorly so.

"_Anyway, I'm sure it won't be a problem. Uh, have a good night, and talk to you tomorrow." _With a click, the phone call ended and Foxy and I were on our own… Just us and a group of angry animatronics.

I looked over to her, making sure all my gear was ready for action, and smiled as she finished prepping her daggers and cutlass. Apparently she was ready for a fight as well… And just in time, the first contender began thunking its way through the vent. I checked the cameras, wondering who was first up… And swore slightly as the camera revealed that lousy Balloon Boy. I waved for Foxy to wait, and drew my shotgun as he thunked his way along, before flipping the vent light on. That lousy robot looked up with its stupid grin. "Hello!" It called out, before laughing loudly and reaching to climb out…

Just as I pressed the muzzle of the shotgun against its forehead. "Good evening." I pulled the trigger, giving the lousy robot a nasty dose of lead poisoning and forcing him back into the vent, half his face now sparking and broken. There was probably some internal damage as well, considering how much he was smoking. Another animatronic arm, this one sans-endoskeleton, reached around behind BB and tugged him out of the vent… And I heard robotic screaming all over the place. "That got their attention!" I cried out, Foxy's eyes widening as we saw the three mainstays of the band appearing in the hall.

Bonnie was the first to charge in, Chica following close behind her. I unloaded several quick shots with my shotgun, grinning as the buckshot tore holes in their shells, but it didn't seem to do much except tick them off. Holstering the gun, I tugged my machetes out and readied to take the charge. Bonnie went after Foxy, and Chica leaped towards my middle. I immediately dropped to the ground, letting her fly over me while only getting a brief, glancing blow against my armor. I scrambled to my feet, coming in and nailing her with a solid hit across her middle with one of my machetes. She screeched as I carved that gash into her, before my eyes widened as Freddy started charging in. Judging by the clunking in the vents, the Mangle was on its way as well.

We needed breathing room. Badly. The office didn't have enough space to have this kind of fight; I moved quickly, lopping off Chica's hand and shouting to Foxy. "We've gotta get out of here! We need room to fight!" She nodded, and kicked Bonnie my way. I moved, both machetes stabbing through her body, and I kicked her off before coming in and taking Freddy's leg off at the knee. I heard that scrambling in the vents and new the robots were already coming to set up repairs.

Taking advantage of the time we'd bought, we ducked into one of the main party rooms just as the Mangle popped out of the vent behind Foxy. I yelled out, but it was too late; the lousy thing latched onto her tail with powerful jaws, and she screamed in pain before turning and beginning to stab and slash at the mass of spare parts to little effect. There just wasn't anything specific to hit on the thing. Thinking quickly, I stepped in and chopped downwards on the second endo head on the Mangle. This seemed to have a nice effect as I managed to take it off… And that's when I realized why these bots were being so easy to carve up.

I swore as the Mangle grabbed the second 'head'. They were able to quickly disengage their joints, allowing blunt damage to bounce off mostly harmlessly and blades to pass through with little problem. This… Was less than good. I'd have to hit them directly in center mass to do any kind of major damage. As if to drive the point home, Freddy stomped around the corner and charged me, his foot back on and working perfectly. Foxy took this one, running the bear through from the side and buying me a chance to drive a machete into its open jaw and twist. I felt the joints popping and circuits frying as the blade popped out the back, jamming the second one in before pulling them both apart.

Freddy's severed, damaged head landed on one of the tables, sparking as the light faded in its eyes before the robot itself collapsed. And then in came Chica and Bonnie, each of them with murder in their eyes. They didn't rush us, however; instead, the lights flickered and burnt out. I swore; it had to be that infernal Balloon Boy again… Sure enough, I heard him giggling. Apparently Foxy wasn't in the mood for it either, as she tossed a throwing dagger at the source of the noise, bringing him down and the lights back up… Just in time for her to dodge Chica's pounce. I didn't have as much luck with Bonnie, and ended up being taken down and smashing through a table.

I swore at the impact, cringing as I kicked the rabbit off of myself before dropping my machetes and pulling my revolvers out. Quickly, I unloaded them both into her blue body, grinning as I saw fluids and oils leaking out from the impacts. Two quick shots to the knee joints, and the rabbit was dealt with for the time being. I holstered my guns and grabbed the blades just as I turned to see Foxy doing battle with Chica; apparently the chick robot had gotten her hands on a pair of kitchen knives, and was now dueling Foxy in a one on one.

I stepped forward to intervene… Only to swear as the Mangle wrapped around my legs and brought me down once more. Cursing bitterly, I drove my blades at any chance I had at the thing's heads, missing repeatedly and only occasionally chopping some of those parts off. My eyes widened even more as I heard the music box dying, and with the tablet back in the security office… I was in some serious trouble. Frantically, I attempted to shake the Mangle off of me, but then Bonnie – knee joints repaired – dove at me and grabbed me, driving a robotic fist into my face. I swore as I felt my lip splitting, and tasted blood. Another blow, and I could feel the bruises forming.

Bonnie was rearing back for a third when Foxy threw Chica's sparking body into her, sending them both tumbling into another table and snapping it in half. She then came in, cutting the Mangle free from my legs. With a nod, I gestured for both of us to run for it… And my eyes widened again as I heard a familiar tune playing. 'Pop Goes The Weasel', or as I knew it from my adventure during the day, the Marionette's song. That thing was active, and I had the feeling there was no forcing it back in the box now.

We hauled out into the main hall, and froze up. The old, withered Foxy was now staring at us from down the hall, jaw open and hook raised menacingly. We frantically began backing off as I started trying to flash my light at it started to charge, a limping gait carrying it rapidly towards us. Foxy pulled me down as it leaped… Straight into the gangly, black figure of the Marionette. We immediately started backing off, expecting the worst… When we got a major surprise.

The Marionette screamed in Withered Foxy's face, its long black arms and legs wrapping around the dilapidated fox robot and began tugging at its limbs. The screech burnt into my ears, but I knew this was our only chance. Thinking over my mental knowledge of the place, I realized there was one safe haven for us; Kid's Cove. Grabbing Foxy's paw, I tugged her along down the halls just as the Marionette managed to pull one of the Withered Foxy's limbs off and toss it after us.

We managed to make it in, and ducked down. I barely breathed, despite the adrenaline coursing through my body and my eyes widened as I looked around. No sign of any of the robots… And then I heard it. That rattling in the vents once more. I checked my watch and my eyes widened; it was 5:50. Apparently the animatronics were either going back to fix themselves up or, in Mangle's case, going back to their spots. I held my breath and Foxy stayed quiet as the Mangle crawled free, static erupting from her voice box as it… She… Settled in and powered down.

I started breathing a sigh of relief, but froze up again as I saw it, silhouetted in the doorway. The lean, gangly figure of that infernal Marionette. I held my breath, willing it to go away. It looked directly into my eyes as we hid, and I met its stare as the breath caught in my throat. It started moving forwards… And then the alarm went off. It looked up, then back at me, then simply turned and disappeared down the hall, obviously heading back to the Prize Counter. I let out a sigh of relief, and Foxy hugged me close. "That… Was too close."

We'd held each other for a few moments before I remembered that game, and gestured for her to follow me back out to the security office. Taking a seat, I looked over the screens. Sure enough, one powered on; this time, with a different game on display. I tilted my head; I was playing as Freddy again, except this time I was in the middle of a room and there were six kids in it. Freddy also had a cake in hand… According to the text, I was supposed to 'GIVE CAKE'. With a nod, I operated Freddy and gave each one some by bumping into them, watching as they turned from green to red.

As this was going on, my eyes were held on a scene playing out at the top of the screen. A crying child, and a man in a purple. The purple man approached the kid, and my eyes widened further as I realized what was happening, seeing a 'knife' in the man's hands. A few moments later, the child's body turned to grey and the purple figure began moving away. At that point, I realized the game was giving letters again. S…A…V…E… H…I…M. Save Him. The game turned to static, and an image flickered on for a split second… But that image was all I needed.

As Foxy and I climbed into the truck, with her ducking beneath a blanket to stay hidden and concealed as we drove back home, that image remained in my mind.

It was the Marionette, eyes glowing with the same murderous look that I'd seen from all the other animatronics.

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><p>And the plot thickens... Why did the Marionette wreck Withered Foxy?<p>

Question for y'all. Since we now have three Fazbear Bands in play (Alex's friends, the Toy versions, and the Withered ones), would you like me to just have Toy/Withered Bonnie/Foxy/Freddy/Chica, or specific names for all of them?

Read and review, and I'll see you next week!


	4. Chapter 4: Double Trouble

Holy crap, guys... I am so sorry this took so long to write. Between class, homework, and old fashioned laziness this took far longer than any chapter ever should. It's a bit longer than normal, so I hope that makes up for it somewhat... And there are a couple big reveals here. After all, there's only three nights to go before 'Jeremy's' week ends.

I'll try to get another chapter up soon-ish in order to try and make up for how long it took to get this out. Also, I sincerely apologize to everyone who PMed me and I never answered.

Anyway, on with the show!

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><p>The entire way home, I was thinking about that infernal Marionette. I knew it had to be involved in all this somehow… Maybe it was the ringleader of the new animatronics? That'd make sense; after all, the thing seemed intimidating enough, and if it had to have a special way of keeping it down there was probably something important about it… But how did that even work? Too many questions, too many things on my mind. I got home, and Foxy and I climbed out of the truck and headed in. By the time Freddy and the others realized where Foxy had been, I was already most of the way down the hall and collapsing into my bed.<p>

Around one or two in the afternoon, I finally woke up. Foxy was in her charger; I wasn't surprised, considering the fight we'd dealt with. With a yawn, I stretched out and headed back down the hall, my mind set on getting a few answers. Freddy, Bonnie and Chica were all sitting around the coffee table, and by the look in Freddy's eyes they wanted to talk to me. "Give me a minute to get some coffee and we'll chat." I called out. Roughly twenty minutes and a mug of coffee later, the story was told and Freddy did not look terribly amused.

"Alex, I have no idea how these 'recordings' from my perspective came about. It's possible that I could've had my video feed hijacked and uploaded, but it's also fairly unlikely…" His voice trailed off, and his head tilted. "Unless somehow it happened when Golden Freddy hijacked us. That's always a possibility; we still have no idea how he did it or what extent it went to." I nodded, sitting back in my chair and thinking.

"What we have here is a pretty major problem, but it's clear there's a lot more going on. The new bots don't like me, but they also don't like the old ones; seeing that Marionette tear the withered Foxy apart is enough evidence for that. But it's clear that there's more to this place than meets the eye…" I sighed and got to my feet, grabbing my phone. "I'm gonna call Faz. Maybe he knows something." With that, I dialed the number, and he picked up after a few rings.

"Alex, my boy! I recognize that number anywhere. How can I help?" I couldn't help but smile. Faz was always cheerful, and always glad to hear from me.

"Actually, I've got a couple questions about the pizzeria… And anything that may be in its background. Previous locations, incidents, anything." There was a long moment of silence.

"…You're looking into the new location, aren't you?"

I sighed. "Yeah… And things aren't adding up." With that, I told him the story; the murderous new 'toy' versions, the phone calls, the odd 'games' and video files, and wrapped it up by telling him how the withered bots were there and the Marionette had torn one of them apart. Finally, he spoke again.

"Alex, I'll have to dig out a lot of old files in order to give you the full story, but I can tell you this. Those 'new and improved' animatronics are about as new as I am. You're right; there was an old location for the pizzeria before the place where you worked, and these 'toy' versions as you call them were the entertainers. I thought we'd destroyed them…"

"Hold up." My mind raced for a moment. This, I didn't expect. "You're saying these things are refurbished murderbots from a location before?"

He spoke again. "Yes, Alex. Furthermore, they were highly experimental; their predator detection technology was… Flawed, to say the least. We had a number of issues with parents being forcibly removed from the restaurant because of false positives, and even a few lawsuits. This was before I owned the place, but I did work there on day shift." I thought about it for a moment, before nodding.

"Anything you can tell me? Anything at all to help against them, or to figure out what's going on?"

He sighed. "The only things I can give you right now are the official names of the animatronics. The 'Bonnie' is actually known as Bon-Bon, 'Chica' is Cheeks, 'Freddy' is just Fred; we changed that for the new location… And I forget the 'Foxy' bot's name, so Mangle works. I can also tell you that the Balloon Boy was more of a 'support' than an entertainer; he was able to repair any damage done to the animatronics over the day. They all had self-repair rigs, but he was the main 'mechanic'. And one last thing…" He trailed off.

I waited, starting to feel a sensation like ice water trickling into my veins.

"The Marionette? It has no AI. It was meant to be a manually controlled robotic for use in the prize counter." I nearly dropped the phone.

"You've got to be kidding me. I saw that thing tear the withered bot apart. It's active, I know it." My mind was reeling. The thing wasn't on automatic?

"By the sound of things, Alex… You may have more than just synthetic enemies in that pizzeria. Be careful." He sounded worried, and even a bit remorseful. I just nodded.

"I always am. Thanks for the intel, Faz… See if you can find anything else, okay? Any kind of blueprints of the old restaurant, anything on the old bots… Anything that you think could help."

"Will do, Alex. Good luck." Click.

I hung the phone up, shaking my head. So at least now I knew what these things actually were, and what they were called… That'd make it a bit easier if I need to get the band involved. I sat down, my mind racing. The Marionette was under manual control? In that case… Maybe the music box had an alternate function. I finally made up my mind. I'd have to show up early tonight and give that thing a good look-over to see if I could figure its function out. I explained what I'd heard to the others, and Freddy immediately sat up.

"Look, Alex… This is getting dangerous. I know you can't take all of us, but… Take Foxy with you, okay? That way you'll at least have someone to watch your back." Reluctantly, I nodded and the others seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief. "Thank you. Now, just be careful… And work fast." With another nod, we finally wrapped up and went about the day. Most of it was preparations; I knew that with the self-repairing ability, the Toy band would be back up and running by tonight, and I'd have to come up with a better way of fighting them instead of my machetes.

After a bit of work, I finally came up with an idea; using a magnetic field, I might be able to prevent them from pulling themselves together for a while… So, with another hour or so of work, I'd magnetized the steel of my machetes. Now I'd just have to be careful with them around the others. Loading up my shotgun and revolvers, I set everything aside so it'd be ready for tonight.

The day passed far faster than I would've hoped, and finally it was once more time to head in for my shift. Foxy crawled into my truck, and we headed for the pizzeria. At 11:30, we managed to arrive, just as the other guard looked up and his eyes widened. He didn't ask questions about why I was that early, and Foxy was well hidden underneath a blanket in the back, so we had the run of the place as we headed in.

"Right. Foxy, wait here and keep an eye on the monitors. I should have fifteen minutes to look around before the video plays and the phone rings, and then it's showtime again." She nodded, and I headed off. First stop, the Show Stage, where I grinned as I saw a faint line across the lower half of Fred's jaw. "Best be careful around me, bolt-brain. You'll lose your head." I chuckled softly; I figured they probably could hear me, and I couldn't resist taunting them a bit. With that, I headed for the Prize Counter.

The minute I stepped into the Prize area, I had a chill down my spine. This place… It just gave me a bad feeling. I didn't know what it was, but I wanted to hurry. Making my way over to the music box, I opened it up, keeping one eye on the Marionette's box. I looked in, and my eyes widened.

The thing had electronic components that I hadn't seen the likes of in a long time. Radio equipment, circuit boards… I knew tech fairly well, but I could only faintly figure out what was going on. But, when I did… I froze for a moment. This thing was a makeshift jammer, with the power source tied to whether or not the box was playing. Keep it wound, and any signals within this room would be jammed and non-functional. Let it get unwound… I looked to the Marionette's box again.

So the thing was manually controlled from somewhere… But where? I didn't have time to figure it out as I checked my watch: 11:43. Time to get back to the office and see what's going on with tonight's video and call.

I made it in just as the video played. It was the standard view of the pizzeria… But as the view panned over to Bonnie, it wasn't as safe. I recognized that look… That was the death glare Bonnie used to give to the Backstage camera in the old restaurant. That… Wasn't good. The camera panned to Chica, with a similar effect; an angry, hollowed-out, death glare. The camera slowly panned back… And I froze. Golden Freddy was standing there, staring into the camera just as it cut to static. Once more, there were two words.

It's Me.

It all made sense now, as I sat back in my seat. These videos were from when Golden Freddy had set his plan into action… When he had put the bots under his command. That explained the concerned looks from Chica and Bonnie; they'd probably seen Golden Freddy first, and weren't sure what to think of it. Then the death glares… Freddy had been the last to be taken.

The phone rang. _"Hello hello! See? I told you you wouldn't have any problems!"_ Right. As if the brawl last night, my split lip, and the appearance of the Marionette wasn't a problem.

"_Did...uh... Did Foxy ever appear in the hallway? Probably not. I was just curious. Like I said, he was always my favorite. They tried to remake Foxy, ya know? Uh, they thought the first one was too scary, so they redesigned him to be more kid-friendly and put him in Kid's Cove." _I grinned and looked at Foxy, before putting on a face of mock-horror. She popped me upside the head and I just chuckled.

"_To keep the toddlers entertained, you know... But kids these days just can't keep their hands to themselves. The staff literally has to put Foxy back together after every shift. So eventually they stopped trying and left him as some 'take apart and put back together' attraction. Now he's just a mess of parts. I think the employees refer to him as just "The Mangle." Uh..."_ Was this thing a he or a she? I couldn't tell, and obviously neither could the Phone Guy.

"_Oh, hey, before I go, uh, I wanted to ease your mind about any rumors you might have heard lately. You know how these local stories come and go and seldom mean anything."_ Stories? Were there even stories about this place back then? Something else to ask Faz about.

"_I can personally assure you that, whatever is going on out there, and however tragic it may be, has nothing to do with our establishment. It's just all rumor and speculation... People trying to make a buck. You know... Uh, our guard during the day has reported nothing unusual. And he's on watch from opening til close."_ Seems like Phone Guy and I would've gotten along, considering our opinions of the media. Then again, this time the media was right.

"_Okay, well anyway, hang in there and I'll talk to you tomorrow."_ Click. I still couldn't figure out if these were old calls, new calls, or somewhere in between… It didn't make sense. With a shrug, I checked the cameras, flicking to the Show Stage… And tilted my head. Fred, Bon-Bon, and Cheeks were both limp, powered off. I wondered about this… Before nearly screaming as the withered, ragged, face-less Bonnie poked its head in front of the camera, red LED eyes burning in the darkness.

Oh, this wasn't good. Apparently tonight they'd managed to hijack the Toy bots and now wanted a piece of me. Flipping to the Parts and Service camera, I swore under my breath. Withered Freddy and Withered Chica were both gone, and Withered Foxy had pulled itself together after last night's thrashing and was now coming as well. Immediately, I threw on my tac gear and looked to Foxy. "We need to get out of here. This place is about to get crowded."

With that, we headed off for one of the party rooms… Just as Withered Bonnie came out, let out a banshee screech, and charged at me with its one attached arm. I brought up my machetes, hoping this worked… And scythed right through the elbow joint on the blasted thing, forcing it apart as the magnetic field interfered with the connections. Withered Bonnie screeched at me, lowering down for a ram attack and I dove to the side, letting it slam into a few tables. I winced as one collapsed under its weight.

Foxy had her own problems, I found as I turned back; she was locked in a fight with Withered Chica, and my eyes widened as I saw the ends of its arms sparking with live, bared wires. A good jab from those and Foxy would be in serious trouble, so I rushed in behind and drove my blades into its back, causing it to screech with its distorted jaw and voice box, swinging around and delivering a harsh blow to my middle. I fell back, doubled over for a long moment as it reared back with its sparking arms, getting ready to fry me… Before Foxy drove her cutlass through its head, and out its gaping mouth.

A bit of breathing time gained as it collapsed, we turned to Withered Bonnie, who had gotten its arm back attached and was now accompanied by Withered Freddy. We squared off, before Withered Foxy came in and nailed my Foxy with a punch, dragging her into a one-on-one duel. I sighed, thinking fast as I faced the two menacing robots I was stuck with. Withered Freddy made one step towards me, and I charged.

I rushed in, taking two quick swings at Withered Freddy, cutting large chunks of its fur open and gashing it, grinning as I saw fluids and oil leaking out, before feeling pain in my side; Withered Bonnie had taken this as a chance to kidney punch me. I countered with a quick downwards stab and slash, taking its leg off at the knee and bringing it down, curb-stomping on its head for a moment before Withered Freddy grappled me from behind in a full-Nelson. I swore; it was too heavy for me to throw, bit I did have one idea… And judging by the razor sharp claws on Withered Bonnie's bare hand, I'd have to move fast.

Quickly, I pitched back and brought my leg up to kick Withered Freddy in the knee joint. It howled out, and I heard an all too familiar grinding sound as I knocked the joint out of position, giving me enough leverage to toss it around and squarely into Withered Bonnie, knocking them both into another table and snapping it underneath them.

Meanwhile, Foxy had her own issues in the duel; she attempted to come in with a quick stab and kill, but with every swing and stab, Withered Foxy was countering it, and coming in with a slash with its hook. Foxy was looking a bit beat-up, some tears becoming clear in her costume and a few issues as she twitched slightly with every impact. Immediately, I grabbed a nearby chair, rushed behind Withered Foxy, and brought it down on the infernal machine's head. The chair shattered on impact, and Withered Foxy collapsed into a heap.

We rushed out of the party room and headed out, running into the main Game and Show room… Just as the Toy animatronics seemed to come back online. Seeing us, they stepped off stage and started coming. I told Foxy to head for the security office, and set to work. Bon-Bon came in, reaching out to try and grab me. Grabbing onto her wrists, I spun around and tossed her squarely into Balloon Boy, sending them both tumbling into the carousel once more. Cheeks charged in, catching me in the middle and bringing me down to the ground, before leaning forward with her jaw gaping; my eyes widened as she tried to bite me!

I was not having any of that. Moving quickly, I reached down into my belt and pulled out a smoke grenade. In a fit of irony, I tugged the pin and forced the canister into her mouth just as it went off, stuffing her system with smoke and heat. She screeched, rolled off of me, and started struggling to get the thing out of her mouth. I came in and super-kicked her square in the face, sending her tumbling backwards onto where Bon-Bon and Balloon Boy were trying to get back to their feet, bowling them over once more.

Fred decided he took exception to this, and showed as much by grabbing me and throwing ME into the pile, knocking the wind out of me for a long moment. As the three animatronics and I climbed on and off of each other to try and get back to our feet, the entire situation was made more complicated as we heard a vent creaking overhead. Bon-Bon and I locked eyes, before looking up…

Just as the grate popped open, and out fell the Mangle onto the pile. Endoskeleton parts, pieces of plastic, metal, and other assorted components all started meeting, locking, and fighting against each other to be the first one back up. In short, it was complete chaos. I managed to get some order to it by ripping the Mangle's head off and throwing it at Fred, who had started coming in to get involved in this utter brawl, before punching Bon-Bon twice and then kicking her down with a well-placed boot to the middle.

Chica managed to get back to her feet as well, and reared back before punching me square in the face; had I not had my face shield down, I probably would've lost teeth from it. Just as it was, it sent me stumbling back against one of the tables, where Fred reached forward and attempted to strangle me once more. I heard running in the hall, and new that Foxy was on her way… But I also didn't hear the music box anymore. I figured I was in deep trouble…

Just as the Withered bots came in. As one, the Toy animatronics ceased focusing on me, with Fred's grip loosening just as I started seeing black haze at the edges of my vision, and let out a collective screech before charging them. Fred nailed his withered doppelganger directly in the gut, came in for a one-two punch, and finished with an uppercut that knocked Withered Freddy's hat clean off and nearly brought the mask with it.

Bon-Bon and Withered Bonnie were having a more interesting fight; Wither had managed to rip Bon-Bon's ear clean off and was now using it as a blunt weapon, smashing the Toy version's plastic suit until heavy cracks were beginning to show in it. Bon-Bon took offense to this, and made it clear as such when she stopped Wither's attacks and performed a quick jump-kick to knock it backwards.

It was about this time I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and ducked into the hall, bolting straight for the office. I made it just as I heard 'Pop Goes The Weasel' beginning to play, and both Foxy and I took cover while I grabbed the tablet, scrolling through cameras.

Back in the Game Room, it was a complete brawl. Cheeks was having some trouble as Withered Chica dug its distorted, broken down jaw into her head, crushing the plastic and causing some nasty damage. Balloon Boy was, to his credit, attempting to help by bashing Withered Chica over the head with his sign over and over again.

Fred and Withered Freddy were locked in a grapple, throwing punches and kicks at each other to try and get their opponent to concede. Bon-Bon was now straddling Withered Bonnie's prone form, tossing punch after punch into the bare endoskeleton of Wither's head. Even Withered Foxy and the Mangle were brawling, with Wither suffering from the issue I had as the Mangle just popped different components apart, reassembling them elsewhere and clinging on, biting and tearing into Withered Foxy's costume.

Then the Marionette arrived, and joined in the fight with his thin, wiry limbs flailing and ripping portions off of the different Withered animatronics. I figured the fight was over, and was about to turn the camera off… When I froze in place. There, having just entered the fight from a small vent in the corner, was an animatronic I had hoped never to see again.

Golden Freddy himself waded into the fight, nonchalantly ripping Fred's head off and kicking it aside, tearing Toy Bonnie's limbs free and smashing her, and even nearly breaking Cheeks in half. He and the Marionette squared off, and it looked like it was about to be a massive brawl… When the camera cut out, and the bells rang. Six AM had arrived.

Slowly, all of the animatronics dispersed, and both the Marionette and Golden Freddy looked directly into the camera before leaving for wherever they were hiding. Speechless, it took a poke from Foxy to make me realize that one of the screens had turned on, and there was another of those games playing. I sat down and looked it over.

This time, it seemed to be Foxy herself, and according to the controls and prompts… I controlled her as she ran out of pirate cove into the main Party Room, and tilted my head as I saw a few children cheering. This repeated twice, and I didn't think much of it. On the third time… I ran Foxy in, but instead of seeing a cheer… All the children were black and white, and that Purple Guy was standing there. The screen flickered, showing a brief glimpse of Foxy's withered face, and went dead.

I looked at Foxy, and both of us were clearly taken aback. So Golden Freddy lived… This wasn't good.

Speechless, the two of us got in the truck and headed back home, minds racing.

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><p>So Golden Freddy lives... Well, this is a bit of a problem, isn't it? And the Marionette is manually controlled? The plot thickens.<p>

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	5. Author Update!

Hey, all. I am so sorry about taking so long with getting any kind of update out for this story... I blame a combination of midterms in college and, well...

I've been kinda disheartened with this story, especially after the last chapter ended up so messy, so it's been hard for me to drum up the oomph to work on it. BUT!

I'm not giving up on it. I do plan on finishing this story - and FNaF 3 - so no worries there for my fans. It's just taken me some time to get back into a writer's mindset.

A big thank you to my loyal fans like Kingdom Infinity, Pallengaro, and Your Intelligence for sticking with me through the Alex Redding series, and once more I apologize that I'm taking so long.

I've got plans on how to make the chapters cleaner and easier to follow while also enhancing the action sequences as well. No idea if it'll work, but I'm gonna try to get it going as soon as I can.

Keep an eye out, folks; I will return, and soon!


	6. Chapter 5: Questions Answered

I'm baaaaack! And this time with my latest idea as to how to best format this story. Again, I'm so sorry this has taken so long to get out, but I feel like this chapter recaptures some of the storytelling that I've done with previous versions. The fighting is gonna be the hard part, but I do have a few ideas for how to approach it better.

On another note, FNaF 3. I've seen it all through, seen all the secrets and little things and both endings and all the other stuff. And all I have to say is this: Scott Cawthon, you really make a writer's life hard... But I already have some ideas for how to work on it. Be warned, the 'bridge' story between 2 and 3 is gonna be pretty dark.

On a lighter note, spring break! Wooooo! I'm gonna try and go full throttle and get through the last three 'Nights' of this story over this week so I can start working on the remainder of the Freddy's series.

I want to thank you all once more for being so patient with me regarding this story. It was a lot tougher than I originally thought it would be, and the fact that y'all are sticking it out with me really is an encouragement.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. On with the show!

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><p>We got back home, and I immediately started heading for bed. The others were talking, trying to get our attention, but all I could make out was the faint noise of their voices. Foxy hung back, deciding to take it on herself to explain the situation as best she could while I collapsed into bed, falling asleep immediately.<p>

It didn't help much as I entered into nightmares; I was in the old restaurant again during the Incident, except this time I was tied down to one of the many 'manufacturing' tables while the drones milled about me. They cut into me, stabbing, prodding, and forcing me into a suit. I felt Golden Freddy's influence falling over me, and screamed… Only to sit bolt upright in bed again, gasping and panting. Foxy wrapped her arms around me, whispering into my ear and helping me relax…

I sighed, hugging her back and slowly got out of bed. "Foxy, go tell the others I'll catch them up on the details in a bit. I need a shower." She nodded, heading off and leaving me to head for the bathroom. Slowly I peeled my uniform off, drenched in sweat from the nightmare. I stepped into the shower, beginning to get myself cleaned up.

After a while, I just stood there and let the hot water run down my body, sighing as I thought about last night. So Golden Freddy was somehow still alive… Even though I'd smashed his CPU in the final battle after the Incident. That was less than pleasant news… I had to wonder how he was still alive. Shaking my head, I finished up and dried off, getting dressed and heading out to the living room, where the others were eagerly waiting. I grabbed a mug of coffee, nodding in gratitude to Chica, and sat down to tell them the story.

Several cups of coffee later, the others were staring with wide eyes, Freddy's jaw dropping open. "He's… Alive?!"

I nodded, and he continued. "That's not possible. We were there; we saw you destroy him. He should be nothing but a bad memory now…"

"You've got that right, Freddy. He should be, but I saw him rip these Toy animatronics to shreds last night… Apparently, he and the new generation don't exactly see eye-to-eye on anything that's not killing night guards."

Freddy shook his head again. "We dealt with him. This should be over, all behind us now. And yet here he is again…" He growled, and I stood.

"I'm going to call Faz. I need some answers, and I need them now." With that, I headed over and picked up the phone, dialing him up immediately. He picked up after the third ring.

"Alex, my boy! I'm assuming you're calling about your new 'friends' at the pizzeria?"

I grimaced. "Yeah. Them, and apparently we have a few old friends there as well… Including a certain golden boy who I'm sure you remember."

The line went dead silent for a long moment.

"Are… Are you saying he's…"

"Yep. Saw him tear the Toy bots apart and nearly do the same to the Marionette before the 6 AM bell rang last night. I think he's a little upset with all of us for what happened to him."

Faz was silent for another long moment. "…Alex. Get over here, immediately. I'd hoped that wouldn't be the case, and that the golden devil had decided to stay down, but obviously our worries are not exactly behind us. I'll explain everything when you arrive." Click.

I stared at the phone for a moment. Faz had just hung up on me… and by the sound of it, he may be in trouble. I gathered my things, making sure to holster one of my revolvers and my baton, just in case. Freddy came up to me and stopped me, looking nervous.

"Alex… If my doppelganger is back, then he's probably getting ready to come after us. After all, we're the ones that stopped his plans before, so he'll want us out of the way before he tries again. We can hold our own, but…" He sighed, resting a paw on my shoulder. "Be careful, friend. You mean a lot to us, especially to Foxy."

I nodded, resting a hand on his shoulder as well, and we stood there for a moment before he sighed and released me. With that, I headed out to the truck and took off.

The entire way to Faz's house, my mind was racing. Too many questions, too many issues… And not quite enough answers for my liking. What happened at the old location? How did the Toy animatronics become reactivated? Who could be operating the Marionette? And most of all, how in the name of all that's holy is Golden Freddy alive?!

Still thinking these questions over, I pulled into Faz's driveway and headed in. He was at the door, and waved for me to follow him. His house was rather modest, with plenty of space away from the main road – a requirement that he'd found when the protests began against Fazbear Entertainment. We sat down in his library, and I immediately started talking.

"Right, Faz. Lemme see if I have this straight thus far; the new and improved animatronics are actually old models, the Marionette is a remote controlled murderbot, and somehow our old foe is back and he's just as ticked about the new models as I am, yet somehow I doubt that's helped his mental state too much. What gives?!"

He sighed, before slowly opening a folder and beginning to speak. "Starting from the easiest… The Marionette. Yes, he is a manually controlled machine; he was meant as little more than an addition to the Freddy Fazbear experience. It's better for the children if they get their prizes from a charming character than a person, after all. As for how…" He leaned forward. "Alex, the control mechanism for the Marionette is extremely short range. Most employees would sit in the back room of the prize area and operate him from there. Now, modern technology may have been able to extend the range, but the controller is still on the property somewhere. That much I'm sure."

I sat back, eyes wide. That was the easiest, and it was a massive bomb dropped on me; the ringleader of this mess was in the building? Faz continued. "Now, as for the new models… Let me explain. You'll have to understand the timeline surrounding Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria before today in order to understand their story."

"You see, the very first location was a place known as Fredbear's Family Diner. It was meant as a family dining location, and used the first model of Freddy – the animatronic you knew as Golden Freddy, though his name at the time was indeed Fredbear – as the main draw. It became a massive success, and they even added another character; a rabbit named Springy. Bit unoriginal, but I digress…" He took a breath.

"Fredbear's Family Diner was incredibly popular, however there were a few… Incidents. Mostly to do with children hurting themselves and each other around the animatronics, nothing that would trip any warning buzzers… But the real killer for that location was the murder."

My eyes widened. A murder?

"A child was killed outside of the diner, right in the middle of a birthday party. According to authorities, the animatronic had a clear view of the outside door, but didn't react to the murder. My best guess is that he wasn't able to do anything since it was outside of his operational area. Anyway… That caused a lot of parents to be reluctant to go there, worried about the murderer – who was never caught, I might add."

"To make matters worse, roughly a year after the incident, an accident occurred in the kitchen and the old place burned down. The only surviving items were Fredbear, Springy, and a few assorted parts from two other animatronics they were preparing to bring into the show. A few months later, the very first Freddy Fazbear's Pizza opened, complete with a new and improved cast of animatronic characters. The ones you know as the 'Toy' animatronics. They added Cheeks and the Mangle, as well as the Balloon Boy and Marionette."

I nodded, taking this all in.

"Now, these were state-of-the-art animatronics for the late 80s, and they were supposed to be much safer and more interactive with the children. And for a long while, they were perfectly fine; a few minor issues here and there, and the parents were still wary after the murder at Fredbear's, however the restaurant did quite well." He sighed, looking slightly pained.

"Then the murderer came back."

My eyes widened, and I leaned forward.

"The murderer returned, and used the spare suit – we had a purple Freddy suit for employees to wear – to hide from the Toy animatronics and lured four children into the back room, killing them by stuffing them into the old suits of Fredbear, Springy, and the two 'early' models. The fallout from that incident was absolutely nightmarish. It was actually around that time that I became owner of Freddy Fazbear's, after the last owner decided he wanted nothing more to do with it."

"It took a month for the authorities to finally come up with nothing; no leads, no names, not a thing. And the parents were so damaged and traumatized that we had to retire the Toy animatronics, replacing them with the ones you know. We expected it to be temporary… Until November of 1987 arrived."

I sighed, knowing what he was referring to. The Bite.

"After that, nobody trusted us anymore. None of the regular customers wanted to come back, and the location was forced to shut down, putting the bots you know into storage and supposedly destroying the Toy versions. A year or two later, the location of the Drone Incident opened, and… Well, you know the story from there. I'd thought the Toy versions destroyed, but obviously they were somehow preserved and used at this current location."

I nodded, thinking for a moment about all this. In an odd way, it made sense; the timeline fit, and it would explain why Golden Freddy doesn't like the Toy animatronics… Because he blames them, in a way, for starting the entire mess.

"As for how our mutual enemy still lives…" He sighed. "That you have to blame on the military programming that his endoskeleton had. You see, as a commander drone, Gold was valuable to the enemy for his knowledge and was a high priority target. So, Golden Mile came up with a system that would cause an emergency backup and purge of all data on his system, essentially allowing him to 'leave' the body he was in and be ready to download into a new robotic when needed again. It was meant to protect the data he had…"

I got the picture. "Except he used it when I killed him to come back from the dead, right?"

Faz nodded. "Precisely. Which means he must have located another active Golden Mile endoskeleton; possibly a spare, knowing how stingy this new Freddy's manager is supposed to be."

I thought about it for a moment before speaking up. "So is there any way to permanently kill him and make him stay down?"

Faz thought for a moment, before speaking. "Yes. A system purge of whatever his backup is stored on will wipe his data from the deadman system he had, and shut him down for good."

I nodded and stood. "So that's what I've got to do. Find some way of wrecking him bad enough to force him out, then wreck the system he's hiding in. Thanks, Faz."

He nodded, smiling and shaking my hand. "Think nothing of it, my friend. Just… Be careful. These new animatronics are far more dangerous than the old ones… And even if they are fighting amongst themselves, I have no doubts that they would rather kill you first, then each other."

With a nod, I thanked him again and headed out, driving back home. Well, at least now I have some kind of plan for how to deal with all this… Time to get to work and prepare for whatever may come tonight.

I got home and set to work repairing my gear and trying to come up with a good way of dispatching the animatronics for longer periods of time… Plus, I still needed to find some way of tracking down the Marionette's controller; if I could figure out who the puppetmaster was, then I'd be able to remove the Toys as a threat. It did seem to me like they were taking orders from the Marionette… And without a leader, it was likely they'd lose whatever programming was making them murderous.

The day passed without many other issues, except this time I told Foxy to stay home. Reluctantly, she agreed after much argument… Especially after I showed her the new 'toy' I had in store for the animatronics tonight.

I checked my watch; 11:30. Fifteen minutes for me to look around, make preparations, and see what I could find for clues… Then another all-out brawl.

I'd better be getting overtime for all this.

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><p>Seems like Alex has been putting together a few more of the pieces of the mystery that is Freddy Fazbear's, but there's still more to deal with ahead.<p>

Next chapter, Night 4 and the brawl between Alex and the old models... Plus more.

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	7. Chapter 6: Late-Night Destruction

...So much for blitzing this thing during spring break. Sorry about the delays, guys. Hopefully it'll be worth the wait for this fight; I feel like I did better on this one, but y'all will be the judge of that.

Just so you know, I'm not giving up anytime soon. I'm gonna see this story through... But be warned. With two nights to go, things are gonna start getting nasty. Hold onto your hats, folks; Alex is in for one heck of a rude awakening.

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><p>I immediately headed for the back office, starting to shuffle through all the different papers and documents within, trying to find some kind of clue as to who could be running the Marionette. There had to be a controller, some kind of documentation for how it happened… As well as something on that jammer device. I finally stopped when I saw a file: "Work Records – Night Guards". I couldn't help myself as I pulled the file out and set it on the desk.<p>

I opened it… And immediately felt a feeling like ice pouring into my veins. There were the names of previous guards at this location there, each one with a brief bio, their work records – including 'nights survived' – and a set of three check marks. "Left", "Sac", and "Dead". I felt chills going down my spine as I flipped through the pages… Every single one seemed to be either "Sac" or "Dead". There were also files attached to each document about cleaning costs, 'hush money', and other bribes.

Even though I had a bad feeling about this, I also couldn't help but grin as I hunted out my phone and took photographs of every document I could. I now had solid, concrete proof that the manager knew what was going on, and was trying to cover it up. I had the info I needed… But one thing bothered me. There were two categories for guards who didn't leave… Dead seemed clear, but what was 'Sac'?

I had a bad feeling about this as I closed the file up… Before one document caught my eye. It was the one with "Left" checked off. I checked on the name, and grinned as I made a mental note of it.

Fritz Smith, the only guard to live through the night shift at the new location. I'd have to talk to him; maybe he knew a bit more about what was going on here… With a nod, I closed up the file. Night Four was about to begin for me, and I'd have to get ready; I checked my watch and nodded. 11:45, time to get back to the office.

The screen flickered on; it was Freddy's perspective again, back at the old location… His vision panned from side to side. Bonnie and Chica were back in position, normally. I figured this was around the time they had started attacking night guards… When I froze as their vision panned to center.

The Marionette was sitting there, staring at Freddy. And no matter which way his vision panned, the Marionette stayed right there in the center… And just like that, my theories turned to confusion. How was the Marionette involved? Was it even part of the old location? I'd never seen it…

My confusion was cut off as the screen turned blank and "It's Me" appeared once more. I frowned slightly, thinking… Maybe the Marionette and Golden Freddy had been working together at one point, but had a falling out? Maybe the old band was supposed to be Gold's trump card against the Marionette, but it – or its controller – sabotaged the plan. If that was the case, then the controller here had to be someone who worked at the old location.

But there simply wasn't anyone that it could be that had worked at the old place that also worked here – besides me, of course.

Except…

My train of thought was interrupted by the phone ringing. I hit the 'answer' button, waiting for Phone Guy to read off his latest spiel.

"_Hello? Hello? Uh, hey there, night four! I told you you'd get the hang of it!"_ I scoffed audibly. I'd had a lot of experience, buddy…

"_Ok, so uh, just to update you, uh, there's been somewhat of an, uh, investigation going on. Uh, we may end up having to close for a few days... I don't know. I want to emphasize though that it's really just a precaution. Uh, Fazbear Entertainment denies any wrongdoing. These things happen sometimes. Um... It'll all get sorted out in a few days. Just keep an eye on things and I'll keep you posted."_ The plot thickens… I raised my eyebrow, remembering the story Faz had told me. Was this around the time that he took over? After the murders?

"_Uh, just as a side note though, try to avoid eye contact with any of the animatronics tonight if you can. Someone may have tampered with their facial recognition systems - we're not sure. But the characters have been acting very unusual, almost aggressive towards the staff. They interact with the kids just fine, but when they encounter an adult, they just...stare."_ Oh, they've been doing a lot more than staring, buddy.

"_Uh...Anyways, hang tight. It'll all pass. Good night!" _Click. And with that, I was alone once more.

Somehow, I had a feeling that wouldn't last long, so I quickly donned my combat gear and checked over the new device I had brought. Seeing the signal jammer, and figuring that the Marionette was the 'ringleader' of this group gave me an idea on how best to handle them and buy myself some breathing room, so I had gotten myself a much more powerful version.

The size of a soda can, this machine would block every signal within a five foot radius. I drop it next to the Marionette, and at best the Toy animatronics are uncoordinated in their attacks. My hope was that they'd simply power down for the night, but I didn't hold my breath. So, with that in mind I slipped down the halls to the Prize Counter, set the device down next to the box, and turned it on.

And heard a deep, electronic screeching from the Show Area. Seems like it was doing something nasty to the other robots…

I didn't have time to celebrate as in stomped an enraged-looking Bon-Bon, who screamed at me unintelligibly before leaping at me. I jumped over the counter, letting her smash into it and grinned at the crunching sound, before tugging my newly-magnetized machete out and driving it straight through her back. That managed to shut her down pretty neatly, but I didn't have time to celebrate.

Out in the hall, I heard whirring and clanking. Either a Withered robot or Mangle, I didn't know. As it rounded the corner, I took it by surprise by charging directly at it, shotgun drawn and firing off a quick blast. Fred staggered as the shot took off a chunk of the plastic suit, revealing his endoskeleton midsection. I jump-kicked him and kept moving, rushing down the hall to a Party Room.

There, waiting for me, was Cheeks… And Withered Chica, grappling each other in a clear fight. Apparently my jammer had disrupted something vital, because they didn't pay attention to me for more than a second. My self-congratulation was short-lived, however, as Withered Chica threw Cheeks at me, forcing me to dive to the floor. I came up with the shotgun firing, catching it square in the broken jaw.

It screeched and charged me, and I stashed my shotgun before drawing my second machete and going to work. It threw a punch, which I blocked with one blade and came back in a stabbing motion for its middle, which it sidestepped in order to twist me around and throw me into one of the tables. I groaned as the thing collapsed under my weight, flinching in pain before grabbing one of the plates and tossing it at it. It screamed and I jumped back to my feet, coming in with two quick slashes to its arms and followed it up with a kick to the torso.

It flew back, and I had the pleasure of seeing the magnetized blades in action as its arms decided not to follow it on the trip… Before feeling a heavy fist hitting me in the back, sending me tumbling forwards.

Withered Freddy stood, teeth bare and eyes a menacing black as it reached for me, that microphone in its hands sparking with electricity. I decided I didn't want anything to do with that and made my discontent clear with a stab into those bared teeth, its eyes widening as the blade cut through something vital within its components. It staggered back, trying to recover which gave me time to grab a chair and bring it smashing down on its head.

The old robot groaned and collapsed, going limp rather nicely… And then I heard a crashing racket from behind me. I spun and threw my machete, grinning triumphantly as the blade cut directly into Withered Foxy's open jaw mid-pounce. I ducked, dodging the jump attack… Only to be grabbed by the Mangle, who seemed quite intent on biting my head off as it snapped its jaws inches from my face.

Oh, this would not do at all.

I took it by surprise by charging forward, grabbing its muzzle. Its teeth dug into my armored glove and I winced, but managed to hold together long enough to smash the animatronic part abomination into the nearest table, collapsing it quite nicely. I followed it up with a good stomp to the 'center' of the mess, and it went limp.

That was Bon-Bon, Withered Chica, Withered Freddy, Withered Foxy, and Mangle dealt with. Slowly, my mind processed something I'd missed…

Before letting out a cry as Cheeks grabbed me from behind, immediately biting into my arm. I yelled in pain, the armor holding in spite of its powerful jaws as I pulled a revolver with my free arm, turned and put three shots through her torso, the plastic shattering and breaking from the heavy magnum rounds.

She let me go, and screamed as she tried to stab me with a kitchen knife. I countered the blow, kicking her in one of the knee joints. The servo started grinding angrily at the impact, forcing her down on one knee. I brought the handles of my blades down on the back of her head, and my armored knee up to her face, smashing it up and revealing endoskeleton beneath, screaming and screeching its robotic noises.

A point-blank round from my shotgun dealt with the noise quite nicely, and I caught my breath and did a mental tally. The Foxys were dealth with, as were the Chicas… That left Withered Bonnie, Fred, and that infernal Balloon Boy – who I was sure was hiding in one of those lousy vents. Cowardly little brat didn't want a 12 gage present again.

I headed to the Game Room, figuring that would be a nice place to have it out with the last two robots. Turns out, they were thinking the same thing as I entered the room, just in time to see Withered Bonnie ripping Fred's top hat off and smashing it into his face. When they saw me, the glanced back at each other, then charged straight for me as one.

"Enemy of my enemy, huh? Too bad you rust-buckets can't innovate worth anything!" With that, I charged straight for them, before ducking and sliding between them and getting two nasty cuts on their knee joints as I passed. I jumped onto the carousel and switched it on, feeling it beginning to rotate as the robots pushed over each other to be the first to get to me. Fred managed to outrun Withered Bonnie.

I decided to reward him well, and grabbed hold of the carousel's 'top', using it to boost myself up and give him a double-booted kick straight to the midsection, forcing him back into a stumble… And falling directly onto Withered Bonnie, who took offense to it and started their own brawl again. With a grin, I leaped from the carousel directly into the fight, blocking a blow from Withered Bonnie and punching it in the exposed endoskeleton 'skull'. Fred took this as his chance to work Withered Bonnie's torso a bit with a few brutal punches.

Thinking quickly, I grappled Withered Bonnie and let Fred work it over, finally finishing with a punch that went straight through its torso and nearly hit me. Taking this as my chance, I kicked Withered Bonnie onto Fred, bowling them both over before jumping and landing squarely on Fred's face. I felt plastic and metal crunch beneath my weight, and finished the fight with a single downwards stab through his head.

That's when I heard the vents rattling, and realized Balloon Boy was in there… And then remembered something else. Faz had told me that he was more of a support machine… Which meant that he was pulling the Toy animatronics back out of the line of fire in order to repair them, leaving me alone.

And judging by how exhausted I was, and the time being 5:30 AM, that suited me fine. I headed back to the security room and flipped through the cameras just in time to see both Balloon Boy and Golden Freddy pulling their respective allies back into the depths of the pizzeria to be repaired and prepared for the next night. A glance at the Prize Counter caused me to swear as Balloon Boy glared at the camera before smashing my jammer. I wound up the music box just to spite him, and waited for the night to end.

6 AM arrived, and with it one screen flickered on with yet another game. This time, I played the Marionette, with the words "GIVE GIFTS" above. There were four grey figures… The ones I knew from earlier games were supposed to be dead children. I moved the Marionette from figure to figure, leaving presents at the bodies.

In the background, the highly digitized voice was spelling out H…E…L…P…T…H…E…M. Help Them? This was getting weird… And it got weirder as the text changed to "GIVE LIFE". I went to each body once more, eyes widening as the boxes were opened… And a mask from each animatronic was placed on their 'heads'. The game finished, and the screen froze for a long moment…

Before flashing to Golden Freddy's face, staring into me, and then going dark. But those eyes stayed with me as I sat there…

This didn't make any sense. Were these games telling me the story of what happened to the murdered children? Was it the backstory, why the person controlling the Marionette was doing what he was doing? I wasn't sure at all.

Packing up, I got in the truck and drove home. I had a lot of questions and not many answers… But I did have a few leads. As soon as I got some sleep, I'd call Adams up and see what he could make of the files.

Then, I'd call up Faz and see what he knew about the survivor, Fritz Smith…

And my current boss – the only employee of both restaurants, Damien Mitchell.

* * *

><p>A connection, perhaps? Either way, something's clearly got Alex's attention on this one.<p>

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